The Hired Help Ch. 02

Jake sighed moments after Kara bolted out the reinforced door in his basement/armory.

And she runs..." he muttered, shaking his head.

Then he reached under the desk, pressing a red button, and slowly walked after her.

_____

Kara was relieved to see the door just ahead of her and looked back surprised the he wasn't there. When she thought she was home free with her hand on the handle, she saw the metal blinds securing themselves over the windows and trying to rip the door open but wouldn't budge. To her horror she could hear his footsteps echoing behind her.

"Don't bother, I put the house on lockdown, that door's not going anywhere." He said smugly, taking his time walking towards Kara.

"Get away from me, I'll scream, I swear!" Kara shouted, her face getting red from anger.

"Good luck with that. The closes neighbor I got is about ten miles away."

"Well what are you do you have in store for me, cause I'll kill myself before I let you near me!" She spouted out; ready to do whatever she could to suppress him. Then he trotted over to a [ shaped sofa and pated the cushion beside it.

"Sit down." He said calmly.

She was pissed off, but obeyed, still ready to pounce at any sign of trouble.

"So, I feel we need to come to an understanding."

"Fuck you." Kara said, folding arms and crossing her legs with a scowl on her face.

"Maybe you could tell me a little about yourself." He said, his eyebrow twitching a bit.

"No." Kara said plainly.

"For someone in a situation like this, your pretty rebellious." He told her. Kara just looked away, not wanting to see his face any longer.

That's when Sasha came down the stairs in her pajamas and tightly holding a blanket. Jake rose up and grabbed the child with ease.

"What are you doing up this late baby girl?" he asked her, sitting back down next to Kara with Sasha in his lap.

"The yelling scared me." The girl whimpered, looking close to crying. Kara's anger was immediately replaced with compassion.

"I'm sorry, but me and your daddy just had a little fight, don't cry." Kara said, smiling reassuringly at Sasha, her love for children changing the situation drastically.

"By the way my names Claire, but nobody calls me that, they call me Kara." She told Sasha, giving Jake a stare that said 'if you ever call me that I'll kill you'.

"Kara, that's a pretty name." Sasha said in a cute way that children naturally do, smiling back at Kara she giggled, "Jake, stop being a meany to Kara."

"Ok baby girl, will do." Jake said, putting Sasha in-between himself and Kara. He got up and said, "I'm going to the kitchen, want anything?" Kara and Sasha were too busy talking that Jake felt like he was being ignored. Jeezus, he thought, how the hell did it end up this way?

When Jake went to the kitchen, Kara immediately

looked around for a place to escape, but the rest of the windows were covered with metal.

"Did you lose something?" Sasha asked innocently.

"No, just looking around, its all just so new to me." She said, smiling again.

"Don't worry, Jakes a nice guy." The girl said. She seems like a smart girl. But there was something odd about why she always calls him Jake.

So Kara asked, "Why do you call him Jake all the time?"

Then Sasha looked sad, and answered, "He's actually my god father, my real daddy died, and he was my daddy's best friend."

She felt sympathy for the girl. Maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all. Before Kara could ask Sasha more about the matter, Jake waltzed in with a bowl of popcorn. He set the bowl on the table in front of them and asked, "You wanna to watch a movie?"

He was trying to break the ice, but it seemed to work because Sasha agreed and afterwards begged to pick the movie, so Jake didn't really have a choice. She chose 'Charlotte's Web' which Kara had to watch with some discomfort. Wasn't I ready to run away a minute ago? During the movie, Kara noticed Jake glace at Sasha occasionally to see if she was enjoying the movie. He looked happy around her. Kara soon got engrossed into the movie laughing at something she thought was funny and got sad at the point of the mother of the spiders death.At the end, Sasha was asleep in Jakes lap and Kara got up to stretch.

"So, Sasha tells me you're quite the softy." She says to him, mockingly.

He laughed and said, "I guess I'm one big teddy bear aren't I?"

"A bear with scars and tattoos, that kills innocent people for a living." She added. Jake got up while gently picking Sasha up in his arms and shot back, "Trust me, if you met half the murderers, dictators, and gangbangers I've killed, you'd call them many things, but innocent aint one of 'em." He walked away up the stairs into what appeared to be Sasha's room, with Kara at his heels.

"We only take the jobs that doesn't make us go home and feel like assholes, we do the jobs that save people from some whack job group of dicks waving around guns thinking there all big and bad. So they rape, kill, or generally piss off everyone so much that they call us in to help them." He said.

Then he entered a room two doors down from where Kara rested up at and she was impressed at the décor. The room was colored purple with a white dresser, white end table with a lamp, a purple and white twin size bed, and stuffed animals cluttered around the room.

"I'm guessing she likes purple." Kara said, watching him put Sasha in bed, careful not to wake her.

"Painted it myself, made her real happy." Jake replied, turning around and motioning Kara out the room. After he closed the door quietly, he said, "Still pissed?"

"No, I cooled down, but don't think you can take advantage me cause your all some badass." Kara informed him, which made him smile.

"The old man didn't take me in to raise some trigger-happy serial killer." He told her. Who the this 'old man'?

"I might have a few tattoos and twice as much scars, but I aint all bad." He said. A few tattoos was a understatement, he had a big tattoo on his right arm of crossing guns with big letters RANGERS on it, another one on his left that looked like large lines of darkness rapping around his shoulder all the way around to his elbow, and angel wings with no feathers that looked to have been on fire and ash covering it on his back. As for the scars, they were scattered around his body, most vivid, but a few looked fresh.

"Anyway it's getting late we should get acquainted tomorrow." He said, walking to her room.

"I aint telling you shit." She told him, staying quite, so not to wake Sasha.

"Well, from what you told me this morning, you don't exactly have a place to stay or very much

money for that matter."

"Besides, you're not the first housekeeper to try for this job, and Sasha didn't like them very much. But you, you're different. And she needs someone who she can trust for the future. Like when she... you know..." He seemed embarrassed about the matter. He was right, Sasha would need a mother/sister figure around when she had her first period or boy problems. Jake would probably just get nervous and say something stupid and kill the first guy Sasha even mentions.

"Fine, but I need to go shopping for more clothes, I only have this and a few pairs of jeans and shirts." She informed him. Kara was devising a plan to break for it when the opportunity arose.

"If you say so, but if you run, which you will, I'm sure you'll give up eventually." He told her, smiling and opened her door, motioning like a servant inside.

When Kara entered he waved and said, "Good night, 'Kara'." Kara scowled at him before his face disappeared when he shut the door. Then she sighed and decided to change into her athletic shorts and a cleaner shirt for bed. She need all the rest she could get for tomorrow.

-----

Jake was flipping a pancake with Sasha drawing a picture on the kitchen when Kara strolled in yawning. He smiled, she looked cute with her messy hair down her shoulders. Kara looked around at the food he made; lots and lots of pancakes. She also smiled, "Is making pancakes all you can do?"

"No, but they're my favorite." He said, without turning around. Kara saw a bulge in the back of his pants going up to the back of his red shirt. It was a gun. She tried her best not to look scared, but failed because Jake laughed when he turned back.

"Don't worry, it's for both of your protection, never know what might happen in this cruel world." He said, with a look on his face that showed he was remembering something horrible. She felt flattered and mad at the same time.

"Don't bring that! It'll scare the hell out of everybody that sees!" She yelled, wondering what people would do when they see a man carrying a gun like a secret agent. He laughed again, putting the pancake on a plate and turned off the stove.

"Trust me, my reputation as the old man's kid needs me to have one on me or people wouldn't recognize me." He informed her, bringing the plate to the table and sitting down.

"I'll tell you who he is later; right now it's time to eat. Sasha, baby girl, pass the syrup."

-----

After breakfast Kara, Jake, and Sasha made their way to Jakes garage and it was even more spectacular than the rest of the house. It was big enough to house ten cars, but only had two and a chopper motorcycle; a white Land rover and a jeep, as for the chopper, it was definitely shiny almost brand new, it was painted orange with a crying fallen angel in the front of the seat. Since it was the first motorcycle Kara's ever seen, none the less a chopper, she still thought it looked more like a piece of art than some motorcycle.

"I see you looking at the old man's bike he rode that thing for hours just to get the wind on his face." He said, smiling about all those times he used to be rested on his lap with him smiling down on him. Kara sighed, "So when ARE you going to tell me about this 'old man' of yours?"

"Soon after were done shopping. But could you make them less... gothic?" He asked, hoping for a yes.

"Actually, I was looking for a wardrobe change, maybe one more colorful, I aint in California anymore." She said. She decided this might be a fresh start, might as well change the attitude.

Then Sasha jumped in the Land rover and said, "Come on, let's go already!"

"We're coming! Let's go." Jake said, getting in the driver seat with Kara in the passenger.

-----

Kara noticed that the road to Jakes manor was a two-way going a ¼ of a mile down until it got onto another road and he drove ten minutes to a open town center with numerous shops. Getting out she noticed that half the parking lot was already filled, making her nervous wondering how people would treat a gun carrying Jake. But when they got inside they got some glares and a few stares with some people whispering to each other who the odd goth girl beside THE Jake Riley. When Kara was looking at a few stores that she might want to shop at, Jake said, "Okay, hears ten thousand buck knock yourself out, I'm going to buy Sasha some ice cream."

Kara was astonished, he handed her a load of cash without hesitating, what a RETARD! Kara waited till he was out of sight with Sasha holding his hand and jumped up and down happily; ignoring the many stares people gave her. This was enough to get started with a new life! Kara started her walk out of the center when the thought hit her, go where? I have no place to go anymore. No family, no close friends, no idea what to do. But this might be what I need, a new life, besides, Sasha's a good kid and Jake's not that bad. Maybe I should go shopping, Kara smiled and turned around to the nearest store, feeling happy for the first time in a while.

-----

Jake was surprised that when he came back an hour later to the spot where he left Kara, she was leaving a store with bags from a bunch of different store in the center that must have weighed a ton. He was even more surprised when she saw him she gave him a happy smile.

"Hey, you came just in time." She said, handing her bags over to him. It was heavier than what he usually benched pressed, and that was a lot.

"I need you to hold those until I shop at a few more stores I saw earlier." Kara told him. She bent over and asked Sasha would like to help her, which Sasha agreed happily. That left Jake following like some pack mule, getting many smiling and snickers while following the two who were chatting away. So much for my image as a badass, Jake dropped the bags and sat on a nearby bench as Kara and Sasha walked into a Areopostale store and rummaged around. He took the opportunity to check what Kara spent all his money on. While going though her bags, Jake found one that he found funny, one of her bras! He started to laugh when he found out it was a size A. He immediately regretted it when he spotted Kara angrily stomping over to him and slapped him hard.

"Asshole..." She mumbled, as she grabbed her bra and shoved it back in the bag and walked back to a confused Sasha. Jake blinked a few times and realized he kind of deserved it, looking around seeing women giving him angry stares that said the words Kara spouted moments ago and their spouse either grinning or gave him sympathy looks. He decided to sit and wait for them to finish so he wouldn't do anything even more stupid. Sasha came running out and jumped on his lap with Kara coming out moments later carrying two more bags.

"I'm guessing I'm all this back to the car." He said, getting up and started to pick up all the bags.

"All except this one,pervert." She said, mockingly, waving the bag containing the bra from earlier.

As they made their way back to Jake's Land rover, he couldn't help but apologize and come up with a explanation.

"Look, I'm sorry I looked through your stuff, but I thought you might have bought something that could help your escape." He said, hoping it worked.

"Bull shit, you know I could have ran if wanted when you were gone, and you didn't have to laugh and put in plain view for everyone to see how disappointing my bust size is." Kara snapped, but a hint of depression showing. This was defiantly a topic he should avoid in the future if he wanted to keep his ball where they should be.

"What's bust size mean?" Sasha asked, looking up for an answer. Another reason Jake needed a female around, he would have frozen up if he didn't have Kara close at hand.

"Um, well- its, wait," he started, looking for the right words, which made Kara sighed.

"Let's talk about that later, when your older, 'kay?" She said, much to Jakes relief.

"Ookay." Sasha said, pouting that she didn't get an answer.

"Thanks, and I didn't mean to laugh, you just looked, 'bigger'." He informed her.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Kara said, looking at the parking lot and spotting the Land rover.

When they reached the Rover, Jake asked, "Kara could you open-," He started, but she quickly jumped inside the car, making Jake drop everything and open the back to put all the bags inside. After hopping inside himself, Jake muttered, "Gee, thanks."

"You're welcome, I'll be glad to do it in the future, just a heads up." She replied, cheerfully.

"And I thought we were getting along." He said, starting up the Rover.

"I thought so too. But you had to snoop around my stuff and show how 'small' I was to everybody!"

She said quickly, keeping it low enough that Sasha couldn't hear.

"I said I was sorry! Now, can you please stop bring it up?" He asked, hoping this didn't drag on for the rest of the day.

"Fine." She said, plainly. Then Jake pulled out of the parking lot, feeling satisfied that he won.

------

When they got to the Riley manor, Jake noticed an unfamiliar black chopper in the garage when they entered.

"Stay here, I think we got company." Jake said

jumping out and taking out his hand gun, his M9. Jake's favorite, mostly because it was the standard side arm back when he was with the Army Rangers. Jake quickly sweep the manor and found the intruder sleeping in the last room with a brown cowboy hat over his face, snoring. It made Jake shake his head while chuckling. He went back in the garage to see Kara and Sasha in the back seat of the Land Rover.

He opened the door and said, "Come on Sasha, grandpa's home."

It made Sasha squeal, "Grandpa! Really? Did he get me something?"

"Go ask him yourself, he's in his room." He said, making Sasha squirm pass Jake and disappear inside.

"Who's grandpa?" Kara asked, curiously.

"You know the old man I was talking about? Well, he's back." He said, walking back inside, with Kara following him.

"I thought he was dead, by the way you were taking about him." She said, which made Jake laugh.

"Dead? Trust me, he's pretty hard to kill." Jake replied, leading them up the stairs into a last room on the left. Kara could hear muffled voices getting louder as they got closer.

"-so then, I punched him so hard, he pissed his pants!" A man's voice who sounded like a drunk homeless guy said, then he laughed loud enough that even Kara could hear clearly. When they entered the door, Jake said, "Are you done teaching the girl more cuss words, or do I have to come back later."

"Actually, I just finished my story, come here!" The man said, giving Jake a crushing bear hug. He must have spotted Kara, because he said, "And who might this little lady be?"

That gave Kara a chance to really look at him. He was just as tall as Jake, but had long black and grey hair from age that was messy under his brown cowboy hat; he also had black glasses over his brown eyes that were glistening with humor. He was probably not as strong as Jake, but had enough that made him a force to be reckoned with. Now that she thought about it, he looked a lot like Mickey Rourke.

"Bout time you found yourself a good woman." He said, like he could see trough all the black clothing into her soul.

"She aint, she's Kara Rickets, our new housekeeper." Jake explained, which made the man reach out his hand and smile.

"I'm Leigh Riley, the guy who adopted this big teddy bear." Leigh said, tilting his head over to Jake while shaking Kara's hand.

"Grandpa, I'm hungry." Sasha said, tugging on Leigh's pants, trying to get attention.

"Don't worry, I'm on it." Kara said, quickly leaving the room to make dinner. Leigh then picked up Sasha and said, "Not your's, huh?"

"Nope, and don't flirt with her, we don't need to look for another housekeeper.Remember what you did to the others?" Jake replied, following Leigh who tickled Sasha, making her giggle. He headed down the stairs to the kitchen with Leigh laughing.

"I won't, besides, I had my chance when I was your age, and I blew it. It's your turn now, son, don't let her get away." Leigh said, seriously.

Jake was surprised, the old man was never serious unless it was important.

"You never told me THAT story." Jake said, wondering where this was headed.

"I'll tell you when you fuck up," Leigh said, smugly, "and trust me, you will."

"Okay..." Jake said, not understanding what he meant.

When they made it into the kitchen, they found Kara setting up the plates while humming to herself.

"What are we having?" Leigh asked.

"I found enough groceries' in the pantry for spaghetti. But I'll need to run into town in a few days for more." She replied.

"Let's eat." Jake said, energetically.

When they all sat down, Leigh looked like he just remembered something and said, "Oh, Jake, I forgot, they gave me a job. But my old bones are getting tired more often these days, so I want to hand it to you."

Kara was listening in curiously. Is it a mercenary job?

"What do I have to do?" Jake asked, know what to pack up already.

"Well, a few villages that managed to rack up enough money want some bandits dead." Leigh said.

"Did you contact the others?" Jake asked.

"Yep, you leave tomorrow morning. Pack up what you want; they'll pick you up at the usual spot." He said.